# Export a Report

Take a report out as a CSV, and choose the columns before you do.

Every report exports the same way and to the same format. The work is what you set before pressing it, because the file is exactly what the screen is showing.

- Set the period, the depot and any filters first. The export follows the report; it does not offer its own scope.
- Select the three-dot button beside the back arrow and choose **Export CSV**.

  ![The three-dot menu open at the top right of the Attendance report, containing a single item, Export CSV, with a download icon.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/worklink/reports/report-menu.png)

> **Note:**
>
> **CSV is the only format**
>
> There is no PDF, no scheduled delivery and no emailing a report to somebody. The menu holds one item. Anything else you want to do with the numbers happens in the spreadsheet after the download.

## Choosing the columns first

Activity Logs carries a **Columns** control, so the file can be narrowed before it is produced rather than trimmed afterwards.

![The Columns panel open on the Activity Logs report, listing the fields available on the audit trail with checkboxes so they can be shown or hidden.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/worklink/reports/activity-columns.png)

*Turn a column off here and it leaves the table, and the export with it.*

| Before exporting | Check |
| --- | --- |
| The date range | It is the single biggest cause of a file that does not match what somebody asked for. |
| The depot | An export scoped to one site is not the organisation, however it is labelled afterwards. |
| The filters | On Activity Logs, the chips show what is applied. On the rest, the toolbar does. |
| The columns | Only Activity Logs lets you choose them; the other reports export what they show. |

> **Tip:**
>
> **Name the file for the scope, not the report**
>
> The download arrives named after the report, which tells a colleague nothing about which depot or month it covers. Renaming it to include both, before it leaves your machine, is what stops last month's figures being read as this month's.

## What the export is good for

- **Payroll** (hours and overtime): The Attendance report exported for a pay period, with approved overtime already separated out.
- **An audit** (the trail): Activity Logs filtered to a date range and exported, which is the evidence of who changed what.
- **A leave forecast** (unused entitlement): The Leave report's remaining figure per department, taken into a spreadsheet to plan cover.